Complex, vivid, and twisty!

The Split is a sharp, chilling thriller set in both Cambridge, England and the isolated, glacial wilderness of the South Georgia Island that takes you into the life of Felicity Lloyd, a young woman tormented by a relentless stalker, a resourceful night visitor, and a mind riddled with distorted memories and inexplainable gaps in time.

The prose is taut and intense. The characters are complex, unstable, and secretive. And the plot using flashbacks and told from multiple perspectives unravels briskly into a story filled with suspicious personalities, unreliable characters, unexpected twists, mayhem, fixation, instability, violence, and murder.

Overall, The Split is an unpredictable, tortuous, mindblowing tale by Bolton that keeps you guessing from the very first page and leaves you unsettled, mystified, and highly entertained.

Sharon Bolton created a very atmospheric thriller with The Split. The Antarctic setting did a ton of the work to create a sense of danger, and the limited number of people and space available made parts of this feel almost like a closed room mystery. The sections set in England were less effective for me, and I think the hand was shown a little early in terms of the likely "twist", but overall this was an immersive story.

This one will stick with me for awhile. Until part two I wasn't sure what was going to happen or where things were going. Felicity is one of the most complex characters I have ever read. Joe ended up being much more than I thought. There is mystery, suspense, and tension galore. Just when I thought I had it all figured out the author throws a twist I never imagined. The answers to the mysteries are perfectly paced. I was engaged in the story and characters from the beginning. This is definitely one fans don't want to miss.

A mind twisting, just when you think it’s all explained, journey from Antartica to England.
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How do you review a thriller without giving away too much of the story? We get introduced to several main characters early in the book; seeing each one’s POV as the chapters progress. For me, getting evolving information concerning character development helped to make the read more of a suspenseful psychological read.
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The shorter chapters really helped to project the story forward, not giving away too much before we jump to the next POV. My mind was constantly hoping to figure it all out, and while a couple things were obvious, I was still left in awe of many more twists.
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For the middle chunk of the book we are thrown back in time, so we can understand what has led our MC to South Georgia (Antartica; not the USA). until we realign with how the story started. It’s more a suspenseful, race against time, for the last quarter as things are all out in the open, really propelling you to finish and make sure things do finish in the way you hope.
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Great stand alone novel (and first read for me) by Bolton

The Split was a very fast read for me because I wanted to know what was going to happen next. And the descriptions of South Georgia were fantastic. Sharon Bolton really made you feel like you were there in the cold and desolate land, and she combined interesting scientific and historical facts.

At first I was a bit concerned because even though I was enjoying the scenery and history, I didn’t know how Sharon Bolton could keep up the suspense surrounding Felicity and what was going to happen with the person who was coming after her. Felicity and her stalker end up on a deserted area of South Georgia that has only the two of them there. The stalker would find her pretty fast, so how was she going to keep a 400 page book interesting for that long? And then Bolton switched to a different time period before Felicity was in South Georgia and the book got even more interesting.

Felicity ends up in a hospital and doesn’t remember where she got her injuries. She ends up seeing a psychiatrist, Joe, and eventually he pulls out of her that there have been periods of time missing, that she’s hearing voices, and becoming increasingly paranoid. Felicity needs him to sign off on her health so she can take her trip to South Georgia, so she’s trying to limit what she tells him so she doesn’t seem crazy. But you can only contain the crazy for so long before it comes out.

Joe has his own things going on, since he’s recently back to work after being stabbed by a patient. He doesn’t want to get drawn into Felicity’s drama, but he can’t help himself. Even with his police detective mother telling him to back away, Joe begins to realize that there really is something strange going on with Felicity. But just when he’s about to figure it out, the time frame changes again.

This happens a few times in the book and each time I got drawn in even more. And even though there are a couple of things that stood out as a bit problematic (but I don’t want to mention them because of spoilers), Bolton shows once again she is a master at misdirection and suspenseful story telling. I’m already looking forward to her next book and luckily she has a bunch of other books for me to read before then!

Out of my love for this author I will only say that this was a big disappointment for me and I struggled to get through it. It almost felt like a different author entirely.

They all can’t be 5 stars....

ARC provided by NetGalley

This was my first book I've read by this author, and it's not my last, Interesting book and not what I expected at all. Creepy and captivating. A great combo for a thriller.

I feel like Sharon Bolton doesn't get the love she deserves. The Split kept me guessing right up until the very end! Once again, Bolton has written an excellent twisty thriller this time set in South Georgia at the ends of civilization. Having just visited Puna Arenas, Chile I could easily picture this remote corner of the world. I think the breathtaking and dangerous environment of the Antartic really added a heightened sense of danger to the book.

The Split opens with Felicity studying glaciers in South Georgia and living in fear that her husband, Freddie, will find her. Part One builds to a confrontation before the book jumps to the previous months leading up to the events that take place at the beginning of the book. Bolton is the queen of slowly dolling out bits of information and every time I thought I knew what was going on, a new bit of information was revealed and my theory was shattered.

Bolton's thrillers are always unique and this one was no different. Sharon Bolton is definitely an auto-buy author for me and I hope she will be for you too!

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I love Bolton's books and this one appealed to me because of the geography--even though I had no idea where South Georgia Island actually was! The landscape was fascinating as we are introduced to glaciers through the eyes of Felicity who is there to research them as well as the repercussions of climate change and melting. But she's worried that her husband (whom she has no memory of) is on a quest to seek her out and kill her. So I thought I knew where it was going until...WHAT?? Then we are back to her past as she struggles with therapist Joe to unravel why she goes into fugue states where she remembers nothing and believes she is being watched constantly. Nothing is as it appears to be--which is one of my favorite themes as it's so unpredictable. Get ready for some action, some therapy, and some mind-blowing when you sit down with this one!

Wow! This was a seriously creepy book at times because what happened to the main character, could happen to anybody who has trauma in their life.

The book starts out in Antarctica, with riveting details and explanations of glaciers and how Dr. Lloyd (the female character and main character) is a specialist in ice and how beautiful and secluded Antarctica is but she's afraid of her ex-husband, who has just gotten out of prison finding her there, so she has a plan all set before he comes. But, was she ever married? She can't seem to remember much, only that he hurt her physically and mostly mentally. And smarter than her, she just knows he will find her, even amongst the glaciers.

The story then takes you back 9 months, with different POVs between her, her psychiatrist Joe and Freddy, the ex-husband (or is he)? But why does she even need a psychiatrist? You'll find out because her problems go very deep.

Joe, the psychiatrist has his own problems, but gets deeply involved in the main character s life. And by the way, there is a serial killer loose, taking out homeless people, who Joe counsels pro bono on Tuesdays. Well, it seems Joe has some issues himself he's struggling with. It all comes together at the end of course and of course I'm not going to give more details. The book had me enthralled but I think the 400 pages could've been shaved down a bit, but still it was a great book!

. My review seems a little jarred, but the book had a lot of elements going on, that confused you in a good way though and we find out in the end, which we usually do. I would give the book 3.75 stars, rounded up to 4 because it deserves it.

A special thanks to NetGalley, St Martin's Press, Minotaur, and author Sharon Bolton for my ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This one had a few slow spots but it was such a great book! I never saw the ending coming and there were so many twists and turns throughout. Many times when a book is told from multiple perspectives it can be hard to follow but this was not. We hear mostly from Felicity who took a job in South Georgia half-way across the world to hide from her ex-husband Freddie. We hear from her now and from her a few years ago when she was seeing a therapist named Joe. Joe's perspective is also an interesting one as he has his own demons but as we learn about Joe and Felicity's progress from several months back it brings us to an unforgettable conclusion.

The final chapters of this book will blow your mind. Such a crazy plot twist!

I’ve never read a thriller that takes place in the Antarctic with its glaciers, ice cliffs, and ghost towns. The environment itself is already frightening.

Felicity Lloyd is running away from Freddie. They were married when she lived in Cambridge but something happened and Felicity had to run away while Freddie went to jail. Felicity studies glaciers and she works for the British Antarctic Survey. Her best opportunity is to study glaciers in South Georgia – a remote island where fewer than fifteen people live in the winter months.

But Freddie is out of jail and he is coming for her. Felicity gets terrified when she sees him on a boat coming straight to the island where she thought she could forget about her past. A mysterious person on the boat stabs Freddie. This person pulls a picture of Felicity from Freddie’s jacket and the words I will kill you are written on it.

The chapters switch to nine months earlier where we’ll understand what happened and what made Felicity run away. And then things get crazy. I wasn’t expecting anything like what happens!
Felicity has some mental issues and some chapters are about her sessions with her therapist Joe. Some of her memories are a little bit foggy. She keeps finding things in the wrong place and her marriage is a bit weird for her.

I really enjoyed this book and if you like surprising and captivating psychological thrillers, I highly recommend it!

This one started out as a slow burn but quickly picked up the pace to a book I just couldn't put it down. I loved the writing style how it was deer
Divided into 3 parts and went back into time with the complexity of the story this really added great insights. Full of twists and turns this is one damn amazing psychological thriller.

This addictive novel has it all - suspense, thrills, secrets, lies, deception, betrayal, and unreliable characters. Such the perfect recipe for a great novel I was thrilled to receive an ARC of this novel and devoured this book!

This novel is told in four parts - Part I - Present Day in South Georgia, Part II - 9 months earlier in England, and Part III - 7 months later in England and Part IV - Present Day in South Georgia. I loved how the story unfolded from alternating timelines and parts like this as it added to the building up suspense of the novel and gave us some insight and further understanding of each of the characters, as well as some of their backstories from the past and what lead up to the present. I love when stories are written and told like this as it leaves you wanting to know more.

Meet Felicity - a diver from England who decides to travel to South Georgia for work. Is she running to something or away from something? As we read on we find out she is fearful of Freddie, her ex-husband and she fears that one day he will find her. What exactly happened between Felicity and Freddie and why is she so scared of him? I enjoyed Felicity's character. She was interesting and fun to read about and I loved reading about her work details in South Georgia, it was rather fascinating and interesting work to read about and it was fun to read about her life. We also learn about a character named Bamber, who lives alone and finds random places for shelter and food to survive. She is determined to protect Felicity from Freddie, but who is Bamber? Bamber and Felicity both find out that Freddie has arrive in South Georgia to seek out Felicity, and both Felicity and Bamber are determined to keep her safe.

In the past we find out that Felicity was seeing a counsellor named Dr. Grant in England where she would talk about her life and everything that has happened to her. Felicity would have cuts and bruises that she couldn't explain or remember getting, and they soon came to realize that she had frequent gaps in her memory when she cannot recall chunks of time. We also learn about a local character in England by the name of Shane who is a suspect for a murder. No one seems to be able to know where to find Shane, or just who he is.

A gripping, addictive, amazing novel that I loved reading to the very ending. I had my suspicious and theories but definitely did not see that ending coming! I loved it!! Definitely one of my favourite books this year!

I am a huge fan of Sharon Bolton, and love the diversity of stories she tells. When I first discovered Bolton, it was with her Lacey Flint series about a quirky London detective. Then she took me to the Falkland Islands in Little Black Lies. And now with The Split, she's gone even further, to the Antarctic island of South Georgia, 900 miles south of the Falklands. (For others like me who are geographically challenged, start at the southern tip of South America and keep heading south until you hit glaciers!!) This a beautifully atmospheric novel that will transport you to a place few will ever see or experience.

In Part One, we meet Felicity Lloyd, a British glaciologist who has taken a two-year assignment on barren South Georgia Island. In Felicity we find a strong, hugely talented woman excelling at her dream job, even when that job is diving into the frigid depths of the sea to study a "plug" between glaciers where they drain when the melt starts occurring Felicity though is troubled by the knowledge that a cruise ship is about to land on her island, and there is someone aboard of whom she is deathly afraid. She is being stalked by a man named Freddie who has found her at the edge of the earth, and now he's here.

The book then goes back in time nine months and then two months prior, where we find Felicity in Cambridge England. This is a very different Felicity who lives in fear and is experiencing fugue states where she is losing hours of her day. And often when coming out of this fugue state, she finds herself battered and bruised with no memory of what happened to her. We also meet a psychiatrist Felicity is seeing in order to get medical approval for the expedition she is planning to South George. His name is Joe Grant, and he is determined to discover what is happening to Felicity.

In Part Four, we head back to South Georgia where now Felicity, her stalker Freddie, Joe Grant, and his mother Delilah (a cop) are all involved. Each of the characters are artfully developed, and the book moves at a steady pace. The ending is fast and furious, and I loved every minute.

Many thanks to NetGalley and St. Martin's Press for providing me a digital ARC in exchange for an honest review. I can't wait to see where Bolton will take me next.

The Split tells Felicity’s story and why she’s on the run.

Felicity knows he’s coming for her. He’s going to be here soon and he’s going to kill her this time. She knows it. She has to get away. She can’t let him find her.

This was a riveting thriller and held my attention throughout as twists and turns leaped off of the pages and threw my mind in a series of loops. Part 1 starts you in current time, while parts 2 and 3 take you back to the past and how Felicity’s predicament came to be. Part 4 brings you back to the present.

This book was a little choppy in sections as it switched perspectives and timelines, leaving me trying to put pieces together myself. There were a lot of characters swirling around and at times certain information didn’t seem relevant or fit with what was currently unfolding. But the twists were phenomenal!

The setting, South Georgia in the south Atlantic, was a place I have never traveled in a book before and I loved the descriptions of the wildlife as well as the bitter cold and glaciers. I also loved how the author detailed information about glaciers and how this environment works and sustains the wildlife. I found it fascinating!

Overall I recommend this one and feel it will be a thriller I think over for a while.

Another excellent offering from Sharon Bolton. An automatic first purchase author for collections where thrillers are popular.

Sharon Bolton is one of my favorite writers! Her stories are unique and not gimmicky like so many thrillers that are released these days. I consider her work to be literary mysteries. They have a propulsive plot but also contain character development and top notch prose. I adored the setting of this book. She captured its essence perfectly and I felt like I was there. While I greatly enjoyed the story, I guessed that Felicity suffered from DID almost immediately once the second part started. I was pretty disappointed by that but I still enjoyed the book immensely. Thank you NetGalley for the review copy!

As soon as the last boat of the season leaves the remote Antarctic island, she'll be safe. Felicity counts down the moments, waiting until she can be sure she's safe from her ex-husband. She's fled as far as she can possibly get but still she watches and worries, certain that he'll come after her.



I picked this one up because the setting is so different from anything I've read in a domestic thriller before. The parts of the book that are set on the island are interesting, but the the plot quickly jumps back to the months before Felicity's arrival on South Georgia and at that point my attention started to wander. I know the reader isn't supposed to know everything that's going on, but it wasn't the entertaining kind of confusion, it was just....confusing.... I'm glad I stuck with it to the end because things definitely pick up again over the last few chapters.

Thanks to Netgalley and St. Martin's Press for providing this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Felicity is working on remote South Georgia Island, near Antarctica, as a glaciologist. It is almost the end of summer and she just has to get through the last ship of visitors so she can relax that her ex husband won't be visiting the island looking for her. But of course the last boat arrives and he is on it, which causes Felicity to go on the run.

I read a book by this author set on the Falkland Islands and thought it was so interesting. I love learning about new places, even ones I don't want to visit, so the setting of South Georgia Island, which I had never even heard of, was unique. But the island is so remote and unpopulated that a whole book set there would have been kind of boring. Luckily after the initial scenes on the island, we go back in time, to England and see Felicity's therapy sessions with Joe, prior to her departure for the island. At that time we learn things are not as they seem with Felicity. Then we go back to the island where Felicity confronts her ex husband. I thought this was a really well done novel. It held my interest throughout and I really did not know where it was going. I am 3 for 3 with this author.